U.S. Mint seizes priceless coins

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I'm sorry R.H. I thought I posted that explanation for you. But that was what I found when I looked.

As to those DEs you do know that those are gold plated copper reproductions, right.

They were never money so they can be reproduced without being considered counterfeit.
 
Apparently I missed your explanation, joab. Sorry. An interesting excerpt from the above link:
Then in early 1944, the Egyptian government applied for an export license for a 1933 $20 Gold Piece to be placed in the extensive collection of King Farouk. The application was mistakenly approved and the "coin which didn't exist" was sent to Egypt. Fifty years later it was brought to the U.S. for sale and promptly seized by U.S. Treasury agents. The 1933 $20 Gold Piece was put away for safe keeping in the Treasury's vaults in THE WORLD TRADE CENTER! Luckily, it was moved to Fort Knox before the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
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So the mint authorized release and sent the coin to Egypt, but reversed itself 50 years later and confiscated the coin. It would seem the jeweler's daughter is sol.
 
Apparently I missed your explanation, joab. Sorry.
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No you didn't I posted something on how the Farouk-Fenton was legitimized not how it got into Farouks hands in the first place

As to your link
20 1933 Double Eagles segregated for US Mint laboratory testing (Melted during testing)
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Assay Commission meets: examines and tests 446 1933 Double Eagles (9 Destroyed in testing)
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Here are two of many times that they could have been removed without detection by somebody with a position of trust
 
From my earlier link...
Secret Service agent Strang, the agent in charge of the 1933 Double Eagle investigation, was a dogged and meticulous man, bullying his way into the world of high-priced coins and regularly reporting his findings all the way up to the chief of the Secret Service. Strang's inquiries quickly led him to Israel Switt, and then to a onetime Mint cashier named George McCann. Like Switt, McCann was a man with a past. Not only did Strang hear stories from McCann's former Mint colleagues about his conspiring to hide the theft of $10,000 in scrap gold, Strang also found that McCann had served time in prison for stealing coins (though not Double Eagles) from the Mint. Strang concluded that McCann, who had had access to the 1933 Double Eagles locked in the cashier's vault after standards testing, had stolen the coins and passed them to Switt. Nevertheless, when Strang took his evidence to the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, the U.S. Department of Justice said it couldn't prosecute McCann or Switt. Too much time had passed since the theft; the statute of limitations had run.
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Some of those "G" men were/are pretty sharp when it comes to tracking down things made illegal by law, eh?
(link again) http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1046288235244
 
Joab

Farouk's coin wasn't the only one.

and btw they are trying to sell the (now) stolen property:

http://www.shareholder.com/bid/news/20020208-71668.cfm

It's the only one the (currently) admit to shipping.

I'll try to run down the archive link I saw some years back about various 'uses' of 1933 DE's by the State Dept (and War Dept)

I saw a reference to Commandos using 1933 DE to 'pay' Bedouin guerrelas
in North Africa but IIRC the State Dept peddled a raft of them # varies w/ source.

I'll look em up again.

r
 
Umm, Woerm, about that Sotheby's auction advertisement you posted...

It says July 30, 2002 in the article. Is the modified Delorean part of the deal to go back in time and bid on it? :confused:
 
The article up for bid was the Farouk-Fenton Double Eagle.
I believe that that article has been referenced earlier in this discussion or it is one that I came across while researching. I was confused at first also I had thought that the F-F DE was sold in the 50's
 
It is all a bunch of crap- Sell and split, or let her keep them, and pay the face value of the coins- plus intrest mind you- soo, each coin is actually worth about $450 - haven't checked the paper this week.If I'm on the jury, she pays the going rate for GOLD- a small mint workers fee- and some petty intrest. That was the Government- she is part of the government ya'll. Her Dad was in possession of gold bullion that was worked into coins that were the going rate for gold in '33. I wonder how much property has been seized and never returned(evilhanded) by the IRS?
 
It is all a bunch of crap- Sell and split, or let her keep them, and pay the face value of the coins- plus intrest mind you- soo, each coin is actually worth about $450
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ummmmm, read the thread man. The last one of these sold for 7 figures. And she has 10.
 
The gold American Eagles sold on the Mint’s site are the Proof version. The Uncirculated version (not shown at the Mint’s site) are distributed by the Mint to coin dealers (through a small, exclusive network) for resale to the public. The current price of gold is about $437 per troy ounce. Uncirculated 1oz gold eagles (2005) are going for about $478 at dealers. Certain years may sell for more due to added collector value. The Mint is charging $720 for the Proof coin. The proofs are more expensive because they are more expensive to produce and because of their added collector value. They are providing a service and making a profit.

The seven millions dollars that the 1933 Double Eagle sold for at auction is for its collector value, being an exceptionally rare coin (now not quite so rare, but still extremely rare). The gold, metallic value of one troy ounce is $437. The owner of the ten Double Eagles could have had them melted, all right; she would have reduced the value from many millions down to $4370.

Click on Gold Dollar underneath products. Does it bother anyone else that the U.S. Mint charges $35 for a roll of 25 one dollar coins?
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Doesn’t bother me. The Mint is providing a service to collectors: a roll of Uncirculated Sacagaweas in the original Mint wrapper. The price the Mint sells bags of coins to distributors for redistribution to banks is, of course, $1.00 per coin. A collector can go to his bank and get rolls at $1.00 per coin. The catch is that 1) they won’t have the cachet of the Mint’s wrapper, and 2) there’s no guarantee the bank will have rolls of uncirculated coins. They might have rolls of mostly circulated coins, if they have rolls of dollar coins at all.
 
They just don't make them like that anymore.


Sure they do.

http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wc...tegory_rn=10118
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Let me rephrase that...They don't design them like they used to. I really don't like the design on the reverse of the newer one. My father has been on the Mint subscription list for, I dunno, 20-30or40 years and has a bunch of stuff banked. As much as I like my old coins, and his, he should have bought more Microsoft. ;)

Don't get me started on how cheap U.S. coins have felt since they took the silver out of them. And then there're those rotten dollar coins they keep coming up with. :cuss:

John
 
I did read the thread, but I still feel like I do.And think the same.If the treasury can reverse itself on something~ you fellas ready to "give" back every piece of govt property you got? Who is to say anything about the fact that the records positively are 100% true and correct :eek: , hahahaha. Come on~No way in heck is she gonna get the coins back, but it still ain't right and it still doesn't change my mind about what the "right" thing to do is.
 
Come to think of it, hopefully nobody gets the idea I am trying to "preach" my opinion, I digress to state that I'll always be correct in my own mind :neener: I have had my dealings with the treasurys' certain 'um collections dept. and they actually make (up) LAWS,never slept in history/government class and don't quite see how this could be. :scrutiny:
 
This is nothing short of absolute robbery
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Yes, but fortunately the stolen property has been returned to it's rightful owner

If the treasury can reverse itself on something~ you fellas ready to "give" back every piece of govt property you got?
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I've never stolen any unreleased/uncirculated government property or any government property that I can remember.
I did somehow end up with my alice pack from the army though
 
OK, latecomer here.

The way I understand it:

1) The mint makes a number of these
2) The mint decides to not circulate, and to destroy all of them, making their posession illegal, becaue there is no way for them to have gotten legally to a private citizen
3) Coins turn up in private persons hands, with no legal way to have gotten there.

Seems to me that the gov't has the upper hand here. Just because 70 years has passed, doesn't make them any less stolen.
 
Jefnvk,

You got it exactly. I don't understand why several people are having such a hard time wrapping their mind around the concept.

I will say that if someone can show a way for them to have LEGALLY gotten into private hands, that changes things. No hypotheticals, just evidence that at some point there was a way these were distributed legally. But, smuggling them out or buying them from someone who smuggled them out does not grant legal title. No matter how long they've been in the family since then.

Rob
 
I'll try to run down the archive link I saw some years back about various 'uses' of 1933 DE's by the State Dept (and War Dept)

I saw a reference to Commandos using 1933 DE to 'pay' Bedouin guerrelas
in North Africa but IIRC the State Dept peddled a raft of them # varies w/ source.
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Yes Double Eagles were used for these and other purposes but they were not 1933 St Gaudin(sp) Double Eagles which were never authorized into circulation or released from the mint.
Except one that was "mistakenly" authorized, which was Farouks.
Which as stated in your link is the only one legal to own
 
Well, I gotta play woulda/coulda/shoulda on this. :)

Since the coins were going to be melted down, and since they are indeed artistic rarities, I'd favor the mint's returning the coins to the woman. Then, she can sell some or all at auction. Just think how much tax money IRS would get, versus any other government action! As is, Our Gummint gets $4,500 worth of gold. Being generous, Our Gummint could wind up with millions in taxes.

Call her share of the net proceeds "custodial fees" for her family's having protected the coins for all those decades, for having saved them from destruction by Our Government.

:D, art
 
That's a good idea - saves us money. Auction them off and give her 10%. Use the money to spiff up the Smithsonian or some other cultural center.
 
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